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Wrestling: Six champs help Barrington rule Mid-Suburban again
Updated: January 28, 2012 8:06PM
Barrington senior wrestler Ryan Wilt can tell you exactly why his team dominated the Mid-Suburban League meet for the second consecutive year.
“It’s the team unity we have,” Wilt said. “Every one of us cares about how everyone else is wrestling and we feed off of each other. That carries us from match to match.”
The Broncos posted a 281.5-186 edge over second-place Schaumburg in Elk Grove, led by MSL champions Wilt (195), Jared Parvinmehr (113), Kevin Conrad (126), Nick Shealy (152), Mark Shealy (182), Ben Calamari (285) and 13 total place-winners on the day. Buffalo Grove placed third, followed by Conant and Prospect.
Late takedowns for wins, overtime periods, upsets – this year’s MSL meet met the standard.
“Anything can happen in this conference and that’s why it’s so exciting and fun to watch,” Barrington coach Ken Hoving said. “There are a lot of high-ranked kids in this tournament and it’s a lot of fun.”
Only one MSL wrestler walked away with his unbeaten record intact, as defending state champion Josh Marchok (34-0) of Schaumburg won his third MSL title by posting three first-period pins on the day, giving him 30 pins on the season.
“I don’t know if I’m more confident but I feel like I need to be more aggressive,” Marchok said. “I want to make sure nothing silly happens so I want to go out there and wrestle as hard as I can.”
The day’s barn-burner came at 170, with Rolling Meadows’ Joe Caprio (34-1) using an overtime takedown against Wheeling’s Eddie Scanlon to win 13-11 for his second MSL crown.
“That was definitely scary,” Caprio said. “In overtime I knew he was going to shoot (a low single) because that’s how he took me down early, so I had to defend it and score off it.”
Hersey had three MSL champs on the day in Stephfon Scales (120), Conrad Bugay (132) and Hunter Rollins (160). Conant’s Mitch Alexander (138) and Buffalo Grove’s Jordan Rathje (145) rounded out this year’s field of MSL champs. Parvinmehr, Scales, and Alexander each won their second MSL titles.
The upset of the tournament came on the title mat at 106 pounds when Conant freshman Bobby Alexander used a third-period reversal and three back points to win 11-8 over top-seeded Adrian Gonzalez of Barrington.
Gonzalez (29-2) and Alexander (30-6) took turns reversing each other throughout the match.
“He pinned me real quick in our dual, so I wanted to stay positive and keep it close,” Alexander said. “I’m comfortable scrambling and I feel like I’ve gotten stronger as the year has gone on.”
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